The Nigerian Police will be promoting 36,599 officers and men of the force, the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, has said.
Arase, who broke the news in Abuja on Thursday during an interactive meeting with Police Inspectors and others.
According to him, officers due for promotion will embark on training immediately after the May 29 inauguration ceremony.
He said, “We will promote 36,599 rank and file officers. These include 6,483 Sergeants who will be promoted to Inspectors, 29,937 Corporals to Sergeant and 179 Constables to Corporals.
“Others that will be included in the promotion exercise are those who failed the last promotion exercise, those who were on Foreign Service, those who were sick and those whose ranks were reduced.”
He frowned at the use of police officers as domestic servants by some individuals, while noting that officers caught acting as servants would be arrested and punished.
“Henceforth, we have decided that only government officials will enjoy police protection. Those of you that are posted to various VIPs, on no account should you carry their bags, on no account should you act as domestic servants to them. You are police officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and they must respect you as such. The uniform must be respected. Anybody, who wants to hire domestic help, should not use our policemen who are sent to protect them as domestic help,” he said.
The IGP said that On the penalty for any officer caught acting as servant would be arrested.
“I have directed the Commissioner of Police in charge of the airport that if they find any of you carrying boxes and rifle and dragging them all over the place, they should arrest you and you will be punished,” he said.
Arase said that the Force would audit arms and ammunition after the inauguration ceremony.
The IGP, who replace Sulaiman Abba, who was fired by President Goodluck Jonathan in the aftermath of the the general elections, was confirmed by police council about a forthnight ago. He has been trying to bring decency to the operations of the force that were ebbing dangerously in the preceding regime.
